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Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Although filming on David Tennant's new ITV serial Broadchurch is not expected
to start until mid August, it was reported that he was already doing some
preparation work on Thursday. Read more at David Tennant on Twitter (blog)

Doctor Who
documentaries

BBC America will broadcast four new Doctor Who documentaries this summer. The
press release is accompanied by photos of the episodes which include two of
David Tennant.
Source: David Tennant on Twitter (blog)

2012
Television Critics Association Tour

David Tennant MAY appear at the 2012
Television Critics Association Tour in Beverley Hills this week (not confirmed). Read more at David Tennant on Twitter (blog)

Twenty
Twelve

The BBC have uploaded three video clips for the final ever episode of the David
Tennant narrated Twenty Twelve.The episode is
called Loose Ends and premièred on BBC Two at 10pm on Tuesday (24th) which was
just 3 days before the actual opening ceremony of London 2012.David
Tennant's voice can be heard in all three of these clips (which may only play
within the UK).Source: DToT (blog)

Actor Kevin
McKidd (Grey's Anatomy, Brave) has attached his
name to a new film project according to Screen Daily. The movie, Indian
Summer, will be written and directed by Brian Ward (Priscilla,
Queen of the Desert), and is scheduled to begin shooting next May in the
Scottish Highlands. The story surrounds a romance set in the same location in
the year 1967.

Included in
the player above is an EXCLUSIVE interview with actress Neve McIntosh (Alaya and Restac in The Hungry
Earth/Cold Blood and Madame Vastra in A Good Man Goes To War) conducted at the
recent 11th Hour Convention. During the interview
she chats about her time on Doctor Who, action figures and her return...

Monday, 30 July 2012

For fans of
gritty British crime dramas, of which there are many, Eran Creevy’s Welcome to
the Punch looks very promising. It’s got a top-notch cast of talent including
James McAvoy, Mark Strong, David Morrissey, Andrea Riseborough and Peter
Mullan, and a pretty crackerjack story, with the ingredients lining up for a
promising picture. And while we wait for a stateside date, things are moving
right along overseas.

While IFC
Films picked up the rights for the film in the United States last week,
Creevy has tweeted that Welcome to the Punch will hit cinemas on March 15,
2013 in the U.K. No word on what that means for the U.S. and other territories,
but chances are pretty good we could see this one at Sundance or even SXSW in
2013.

Based on Creevy's Brit List script, the story follows an ex-criminal who
is forced to return to London from his Icelandic hideaway when his son is
involved in a heist gone wrong. This gives a dogged detective one last chance
to catch the man he’s always been after.

An actor who
stars with Tom Hanks in his latest film could be off to Hollywood – as pals in
his local plan to turn a digital whip-round into a movie and send him to the première.

Marty
Docherty, 38, landed the role of Hanks’s brother in the Warner Bros movie Cloud
Atlas.

He spent days
in Berlin shooting for the film alongside an all-star cast including Halle
Berry, Hugh Grant and Susan Sarandon.

But he
admitted to pals Ian Bustard and Martyn Robertson over a pint in Glasgow’s
Griffin Bar that he couldn’t afford the trip to Los Angeles for the
star-studded opening night.

The pair –
both documentary film-makers – have hatched a plan to get him there so he can
become Scotland’s next blockbuster star.

They are
making their own movie charting his journey, titled Marty Goes To Hollywood,
and have launched a Facebook appeal, getmartytohollywood.

They hope the
Scottish public will get behind Marty by donating to the project to help raise
the £10,000 needed to send him to LA in October. Last night, Marty, 38, said:
“I can’t believe they have done all of this after just a wee conversation in the
pub.

“Obviously,
going to the première doesn’t guarantee me anything but it definitely won’t
hinder me and I think it could open doors.

“I have been
acting for 15 years so, if I’m ever going to get to Hollywood and really make
it there, then now’s the time. When I was in Berlin filming, I shot scenes with
Halle Berry and Hugo Weaving, who was in The Matrix. I met Hugh Grant in
make-up and he was so nice.

“They were
interested in what I was doing and who I was playing. I couldn’t quite believe I
was there.

“I really
hope I can go to the première. It’s such an all-star line-up and I’m sure it
will be spectacular.”

Ian and
Martyn, who between them have 30 years’ experience in the film and
entertainment industry, have set up meetings for Marty with a host of Scots-born
stars including Robert Carlyle, Gerard Butler and Brian Cox.

They will
also organise for him to speak with casting directors and producers.

Ian, 41,
said: “When you are part of the hottest property in town, you soon become the
hottest property in town yourself. That’s why he has to be at that première.

“When Tommy
Flanagan was in Braveheart, he went over to LA for the première and never came
back.

“We want the
Scottish public to see the great opportunity Marty has and support him. He is
well known here having had parts in Dear Green Place and Still Game.

“But
Hollywood is the next step and we want to follow his journey as he tries to get
there. He will be swapping the hills of Castlemilk for the hills of LA.”

Martyn, 31,
said: “He has a good chance here and we want the public – both here and in
America – to get behind him.

“We have set
up a crowd-funding website where people can buy things like the chance to have
their name on the credits of the film or a signed DVD from Marty.

“The items
for sale vary from about £4.50 to £800. We want people to have fun with it.

“Yes, this is
about a local boy who has done well but it’s much more than that too.”

The Cloud
Atlas crew shot some of the scenes for the film in Glasgow last September.

Alan
Cumming named Outstanding Actor at OUTFEST
Tony Award winner Alan Cumming has won the Grand Jury Award at Los Angeles' Outfest for Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film for Any Day Now.

The
film, which received the Audience Award for Outstanding Feature Film, features
Cumming as a gay man who, along with his partner, takes in an abandoned,
mentally handicapped teenager.

Cumming
won the Tony Award for his performance as the Emcee in Cabaret. His many other
stage credits include Design for Living, The Threepenny Opera, Elle and
Macbeth. He currently co-stars on CBS' The Good Wife as Eli Gold, and appeared
in the television movie of Annie.

I just got back from LA where I won the Best Actor award at Outfest for Any Day
Now. The movie also won the audience award, as it has at every festval it has
screened at: Tribeca, Proveincetown and Seattle. I also won the Best Actor at
Seattle. I am really proud of this film and so excited that it will be released
late 2012.

The blog also
includes this Red Carpet interview with Alan Cumming at the screening of his
new film Any Day Now:

Alan also spoke to the
"CBS This Morning" co-hosts about playing every role in the
production of Shakespeare's Macbeth at New York City's Lincoln
Center Festival, and his role in the CBS drama The Good Wife. Watch
the video at Metacafe

The
fund raising event, which supports the theater's education programs, will be
held Saturday, Aug. 11 at The Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station, 55 Bride Road in
Haddam, across the river from the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam.

We're loving this beautiful film, narrated by the actor Brian Cox, made to
celebrate publication of Kirsty Gunn’s ambitious new novel, The Big Music.

Published by our good friends at
Faber, The Big Music is getting plenty of attention in the press and deservedly
so. As the fabulous review in the Sunday Times says, "This novel, like the
music it emulates, is thunderous, dissonant and beautiful."

World
Productions is producing a second season of the critically acclaimed drama Line
of Duty for BBC Two.

The thriller series, starring Lennie James, Vicky
McClure and Martin Compston, examines the world of police corruption. It is the
most successful new show on BBC Two since 2005, averaging 3.2 million audiences
in season one.

Line of Duty
was written and produced by Jed Mercurio and executive produced for the BBC by
World Productions’ Simon Heath and Stephen Wright.

Ben
Stephenson, the controller for BBC Drama, commented: “Jed Mercurio and World
Productions have realized a brilliant series for BBC Two with Line of Duty that
encapsulates my vision for bold, authored and utterly original drama on the
channel.”

“I’m so
pleased to have this brilliantly realized thriller on BBC Two; it is a
wonderful addition to the channel’s rich landscape of drama,” added Janice
Hadlow, the controller for BBC Two. “With fantastic writing from Jed Mercurio,
great characterization, tightly plotted detail and riveting performances from a
stand-out cast, I’m thrilled that this complex, contemporary drama has captured
the imagination of such a loyal and appreciative audience.”

According to Oh No They Didn't, Peter Capaldi will join the cast of The Hour -

The Hour 2

Most of the
original cast - including Romola Garai, Dominic West and Ben Whishaw - will
return to the story of a '50s BBC newsmagazine show, and the ensemble is
getting one hell of an addition in Peter Capaldi as the new Head of News. The
sequel will take place in 1957. It won't have the espionage component that
drove so many of the first season's stories.

Chasing
Mavericks is the inspirational true story of real life surfing phenom Jay
Moriarity (played by newcomer Jonny Weston). When 15 year old Jay discovers
that the mythic Mavericks surf break, one of the biggest waves on Earth, is not
only real, but exists just miles from his Santa Cruz home, he enlists the help
of local legend Frosty Hesson (played by Gerard Butler) to train him to survive
it. As Jay and Frosty embark on their quest to accomplish the impossible, they
form a unique friendship that transforms both their lives, and their quest to
tame Mavericks becomes about far more than surfing. Chasing Mavericks was made
with the help of some of the biggest names in the surfing world, and features
some of the most mind-blowing real wave footage ever captured on film.

To mark the
release of Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy on Blu-ray and DVD from 20th August, Filmoria
are offering you the chance to win Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy on DVD as well as a
copy of his book Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance.

The BBC
Saturday night show - which began airing in April 2009 - has been on screens
for three series, but has now come to an end, much to the 45-year-old actor's
disappointment.

"John's
very disappointed. He loved the show and knows it was popular."

The show -
which is filmed in Glasgow, Scotland - picked up around four million viewers
per episode, and those who watched were treated to members of the public
singing with big-named artists and daredevil stunts performed by unsuspecting
people.

A BBC
spokesperson has confirmed 'Tonight's The Night' would not be making a comeback
this year.

John recently
landed a role in a US TV series branded as the country's answer to 'Downton
Abbey', although it is not known if it has been commissioned for a full run by
network ABC.

A source
said: "This is a big role for John. If it is successful, it would mean
spending most of the year filming in the States."

Monday, 23 July 2012

David
Tennant was one of the hosts for the documentary Shakespeare Uncovered which is
part of the BBC Shakespeare Unlocked season.

David
Tennant's episode was about Hamlet and he explored the different approaches
actors have taken to the role of the Danish prince. Alongside interviews with
Simon Russell Beale and Ben Whishaw, he looked at why the play is often
regarded as Shakespeare's finest work. He also explained why he believes its
popularity has endured to the present day.David's
episode premièred on UK television on Tuesday 17th July 2012 at 11.20pm on BBC
Two, with a repeat the following evening on BBC HD at 11.50pmA DVD of the
series will be released on 27th August in the UK and Europe

David
Tennant's episode of Shakespeare Uncovered has been uploaded to YouTube.com in
four parts, here

Links for
both UK and non-UK people to download David Tennant's episode of Shakespeare
Uncovered about Hamlet are here

It was
announced last night (21 July) at the Television Critics Press Tour (Summer 2012) that
Shakespeare Uncovered would be show on US television by PBS during the next
season. The exact broadcast date is not known yet.
See here for more information.

Nativity 2

In London on
Tuesday (17 July) there was a preview screening of David Tennant's movie
Nativity 2. Currently there appears to be some doubt regarding the name of the
movie, as some industry websites are calling it Nativity Two: The Second Coming
(which was the working title while it was being filmed) but other industry
websites are calling it Nativity 2: Danger In The Manger. Source: David Tennant on Twitter (blog)

The Story Of The Costume Drama

This DVD will be
released by Acorn Media on 31st July in the US and includes a look at behind the
scenes of David Tennant's drama Casanova. A review of the DVD can be found here

The Politician's Husband

Some new
locations and scene details have been added for the filming of The Politician's Husband here

The Spies Of Warsaw

Adverts for The Spies Of Warsaw are already being
screened on BBC America in the US. Typically US TV stations screen future
programme advertisements earlier than UK television. The Spies Of Warsaw is
currently still expected to be shown in UK and Poland first. The adverts show a
brief shot of David Tennant wearing a cap, and the name of the programme. Source: David Tennant on Twitter

Diary dates:

Tues 24 Jul - Twenty Twelve Series 2 Episode 7 (Loose Ends) is on BBC Two at
10pm.Wed 25 Jul -
True Love is available to rent from LoveFilm in the UK and Europe.Thurs 26 Jul
- Doctor Who Magazine 450 is published with a poster of David Tennant, Christopher
Eccleston and Matt SmithSource: David Tennant on Twitter

Seen at
NetMums:Radio
Scotland is looking for a Scottish ‘older mum’ to take part in new series

In this major new series for BBC Radio
Scotland, Elaine C Smith explores the complex, at times contradictory
relationship that exists between a mother and her child. We’re looking for a
first time mum in her forties to take part in this 6 part series.

Nowadays there are many reasons for women
choosing to have children in their forties. Would you like to share your
experience with Elaine C Smith and explore the challenges, joys and
tribulations of being an older mum in Scotland?

With
production on the film beginning way, way back in 2010, we've been starting to
get a little worried about "The Orphanage" director Juan Antonio
Bayona's The Impossible. But with a lengthy post-production
required for the special effects work, we got our first taste of the film in
December with a promising teaser followed up this spring with a full trailer --
could the movie now be Oscar bound?

It seems Lionsgate
is throwing their hat in the ring, dating The Impossible for a New
York and Los Angeles release in the thick of awards season on December 21st, an
already crowded slot that has "This Is 40," "Zero Dark
Thirty" and "Jack Reacher" all opening that weekend. But what
those flims won't have is Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts starring in what looks
like an extraordinarily visceral drama set against the devastating tsunami of
2004. We're guessing it'll be like that opening sequence of Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter"...
but like, for a whole movie (and better). Here's the official synopsis:

Maria (Naomi
Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation
in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the
morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their
Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the
center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races
across the hotel grounds toward her.

Based on a
true story, The Impossible is the unforgettable account of a family caught,
with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural
catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the
unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and
her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and
intimate, devastating and uplifting, The Impossible is a journey to the core of
the human heart.

This
hopefully means (fingers crossed) a fall festival circuit première will be in
order to help get the buzz out not only in advance of its stateside bow, but
also the Spanish release on October 11th.

New Poster
for Tsunami drama The Impossible with Ewan McGregor & Naomi Watts

A new Spanish
poster has been released for the upcoming drama based on one family’s
experience of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, The Impossible, this week.

From the crew
of The Orphanage, including director Juan Antonio Bayona who will be making his
English-language début and scribe Sergio G. Sánchez, the film follows the true
account of a family – Henry (Ewan McGregor), Maria (Naomi Watts), and their
three sons – who begin their winter vacation in Thailand but who find
themselves caught with tens of thousands of strangers in the mayhem of one of
the worst natural catastrophes of our time.

Set to be
released in the UK on 4th January, 2013, the new poster is quite intense,
already highlighting the horrific effects that tsunami caused and the dramatic
situations that the cast are set to face.

FC Films
announced today the company is acquiring all U.S. rights to director Eran
Creevy’s action thriller Welcome To The Punch from Worldview Entertainment. The
film, which was also written by Creevy, stars James McAvoy, Mark Strong, and
Andrea Riseborough. The project was produced by Rory Aitken and Ben Pugh of
Between the Eyes and Brian Kavanaugh Jones of Automatik. Worldview’s Christopher
Woodrow, Molly Conners, Maria Cestone and Sarah Johnson Redlich executive
produced with Ridley Scott and Liza Marshall of Scott Free Productions, Xavier
Marchand of Momentum Pictures, and Stuart Ford of IM Global.

In Welcome To the Punch, former criminal Jacob Sternwood (Strong) is forced to return to
London from his Icelandic hideaway when his son is involved in a heist gone
wrong. This gives detective Max Lewinsky (McAvoy) one last chance to catch the
man he has always been after. As they face off, they start to uncover a deeper
conspiracy they both need to solve in order to survive.

Jonathan
Sehring, President of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, said: “Welcome To the Punch
is an ingenious action thriller featuring some of the best actors working today
including James MacAvoy, Mark Strong and Andrea Riseborough. Eran Creevy made a
huge mark with Shifty but he's really arrived with Welcome To The Punch. We
could not be more excited to partner with him and a who's who of international
partners including Ben Pugh and Rory Aitken of Between the Eye Productions,
Brian Kavanaugh Jones of Automatik, our friends at Scott Free Productions,
Stuart Ford and his team at IM Global, Alliance Films and Worldview
Entertainment.”

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